In local area networking and telecommunication hook-ups, especially in customer premises, it is often necessary to connect particular telephone or other apparatus such as computer lines which extend from a particular piece of equipment at a particular physical location to other equipment circuits which extend from, for example, a PBX or dam network to a central switching facility. In the past, this cross-connection has been within the province of a telephone company craftperson upon a customer's request. However, because of the changing nature of the telephone industry, with responsibilities being shifted more and more to the individual customer, it has become the practice to have the customers make their own telephone and equipment arrangements and hook-ups without reliance on the use of skilled personnel.
Such reliance upon the customer to make such hook-ups or cross-connections gives rise to numerous problems leading to efforts on the part of distribution hardware equipment manufacturers to simplify the process as much as possible. One problem has been the use of insulation displacement connectors on the connector module in, for example, local area network (LAN) connecting or distribution fields, wherein the wires are forced between the blades for both mechanical and electrical connection. Such an operation often requires both special tools and special skills, and presents a definite area for simplification. Also, the installation must be such that there is ready access to the connectors for performing the wiring operation. A second problem arises because typical cross-connect units must be individually secured to mounting surfaces. All of the wires involved must be routed, dressed, and connected properly, and usually present to the assembler an unintelligible mass of intertwined and often tangled wires.
One proposed solution to at least some of the foregoing problems is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,052 of Baker et al. In the arrangement of that patent, a modular cross-connect panel is designed to allow multi-conductor cables carrying a number of line circuits to be plugged into mating connectors. The connectors from the lines as well as from the stations are pre-wired to standard telephone jacks thereby allowing the customer to snap one end of a double plug-ended cord into the desired line jack and the other end of the cord into the desired station jack. The cross-connect comprises a housing having several hinged rotating section connector panels, each of which accepts multi-pair cables. The hinged section is mounted to a forward edge of a support section and the multi-pair cables are suspended between the two sections. Included in each section are a plurality of jacks arranged in groups, vertically spaced from each other. The individual cable pairs within the cable are connected to individual jacks and the double plug-ended path cords are then used to cross-connect individual stations with switching facility lines. The jacks are grouped in sets of six mounted on plug boards which are mounted on the panel by means of ramps molded on each of the individual jacks. Thus, the jacks, which are mounted on the board, retain the board within openings in the panel. The cables leading to the jacks from, for example, a PBX are each fitted with an end connector which, in turn, is adapted to plug into the rear of each set of six jacks. Such an arrangement necessitates a pre-wiring and connector mounting of the cables, which is beyond the normal competence of the customers, and which reduces the flexibility of the arrangement. Any changes that may be desired to be made to the jack connections can necessitate a rewired connector on the cable, which is undesirable from both a time and cost standpoint.
The use of the jacks to retain the plug board on the panel can cause problems inasmuch as, for secure mounting, each plug board must have a full complement of jacks. In addition, such an arrangement necessitates the use of jacks having ramps molded thereon rather than standard jacks which have no ramp.
A universal patch panel is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,426 of Arnett and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,140 of Arnett, wherein a panel has an array of a plurality of openings therein. Each opening is adapted to receive a mounting adapter of plastic material having first and second depressible cantilever beams, which function to hold the adapter within the opening. The adapter, in turn, has grooves in the interior side walls thereof for holding a connector having resilient tabs therein. Each individual connector is wired and then inserted into and locked within the adapter. This arrangement allows any of a number of different types of connectors to be individually mounted in the panel, provided each connector has resilient tabs for locking the connector in place within the adapter. When the panel contains a full complement of connectors so mounted, cross-connections among different connectors can easily be made from the front of the panel by the customer.
In both the Arnett arrangement and the Baker et al. arrangement, the wiring of the connectors is preferably performed by a skilled craftperson. In Baker et al., the cables leading to the jacks from, for example, a PBX, must have fitted on the end thereof the connectors which are plugged into the individual connector jacks. Thus, the craftperson is called upon to wire these end connectors and to mount them, which can be both time consuming and which presents a potential for mistakes. In the Arnett arrangement, the individual connectors must each be wired and then mounted in the panel in the proper position relative to the other connectors. This too can be a time consuming operation and can lead to mistakes in wiring or placement of the connector in the panel. In addition, it is sometimes the case that the rack on which the patch panel is mounted is not readily accessible from the rear. The Baker et al. arrangement allows for this by virtue of the panel being outwardly pivoting. The Arnett arrangement provides front termination to the IDC's by virtue of its slide out collar. However, due to its 90 degree orientation of the IDC terminals to the modular jack face, rear terminations are not readily accessible.
A commercially available modular jack panel is the AT&T 1100 panel, in which rows of jacks are mounted on the panel, and access to the rear of the jacks is had by hinging the panel to its support surface or rack. When it is necessary to wire or otherwise connect the jacks, the panel may be unlatched and swung outward to provide access to the rear of the panel and hence the jacks. Thus, as in the Baker et al. arrangement, the entire panel is swung outward when perhaps only one jack needs to be wired.